<This article has been reproduced in Tech City News>
So it seems one of the bravest – and possibly most reckless
– user experience (UX) changes in recent years has failed; Microsoft has
announced that it will reinstate the Start Button to its desktop layout.
The announcement is an acknowledgement that it has failed in
its attempt to migrate desktop users from their familiar Windows to the tiled
layout first seen in Metro for mobile devices and later developed for all
devices and called Windows 8.
On some levels this failure is a shame
The rationale for behind this migration was solid –
Microsoft had seen the future of devices and knew that the majority of activity
would be on mobile devices. Microsoft reasoned that it was vital to bring its
vast desktop user base into contact with this new mobile world.
They certainly had a product that worked well for mobile –
the tiled interface Metro (later Windows 8) was elegant and helpful, superior
to the static layout of Apple’s iOS and cleaner than Android whilst just as
dynamic.
It also made a lot of sense for Microsoft as they’d only
need to focus on a single product rather than parallel one. If Microsoft could
bring the market to their way of thinking, they would become the standard for
mobile just like they had for desktop. It had always worked this way when they
had made changes to Windows in the past.
So they ‘bet the company’ on the change.
Unfortunately for Microsoft things didn’t work out quite howthey had hoped. We can be sure Microsoft had expected some resistance to the
change – given their 30 year ubiquity in desktop user interface (UI) there
could be few companies with such experience in customer resistance to change.
But this time the change was not just evolutionary – it was a total break from
the past, a parallel with the change from MS DOS to Windows itself.
As it turned out, users hated this change even more than
predicted; all their menus had disappeared, the Start Button was gone, and the
tiled interface that worked so well with stubby fingers made no sense when
using a mouse. In their rush to deliver the future, Microsoft had forgotten
ubiquity comes with a price; most people don’t like change.
Lurking beneath the surface of this problem for Microsoft
was the concept of Skeuomorphism – the transference of practical design
elements from one application into another where their use is superfluous.
Classic examples of this are the Qwerty keyboard and wood panelled cars.
Skeuomorphism may seem a pretty abstract subject area, but
for designers it’s vitally important as changes in technology and consumer
products mean changes to the how we interact with objects. Design luminaries like Jony Ive of Apple hate skeuomorphism,
as they are forced to add largely unnecessary elements they believe
unnecessary.
However as I’ve argued before, for the ordinary user,
skeuomorphic design matters – it creates familiar connections to unfamiliar
technologies. A Qwerty keyboard allows the user to make an intuitive connection
with a device; wood panelled cards provide cues as to the premium quality of
the product (no, seriously); showing a reel-to-reel tape rolling whilst
recording on a digital device provides a fun connection with the past even for
those too young to have ever used reel to reel.
In this way Skeuomorphism creates emotional connections to
products every bit as valuable as the clean simple lines of the product itself.
In my previous blog post I advised that those pushing for change would be
advised to see how consumers responded to Windows 8 which was a break from a
skeuomorphic past.
This, perhaps, is where Microsoft went wrong. Windows Metro
and Windows 8 were beautifully designed for the new mobile medium. The people
who bought these devices were early adopters, by definition predisposed to like
change and difference. But the majority of Windows users are not like this; they
want familiar, it helps them to navigate the constant blizzard of new
technology. In returning the Start Button, Microsoft has been forced to
acknowledge that they too have created their own skeuomorph and like it or not,
for the time being, they’re stuck with it.
Their consumers have spoken, and to their credit, Microsoft
have listened. The design world would be wise to do the same.